PowerCLI cannot be installed or updated because the authenticode signature of the file error

Ivo Beerens
Date : March 7, 2023
Categories : powercli ,VMware
Tags : powercli

On a new Windows Server 2022 VM I tried to install a fresh copy of VMware.PowerCLI (13.0.0) with the following PowerShell command:

Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser

The following error occurred:

PackageManagement\Install-Package : The module ‘VMware.VimAutomation.License’ cannot be installed or updated because the authenticode signature of the file ‘VMware.VimAutomation.License.cat’ is not valid. At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PowerShellGet\1.0.0.1\PSModule.psm1:1809 char:21 + … $null = PackageManagement\Install-Package @PSBoundParameters + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (Microsoft.Power….InstallPackage:InstallPackage) [Install-Package], Exception + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidAuthenticodeSignature,ValidateAndGet-AuthenticodeSignature,Microsoft.PowerShell.P ackageManagement.Cmdlets.InstallPackage

Using the -Force and -SkipPublisherCheck options fixed the error. The command to execute is:

Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser -Force -SkipPublisherCheck -AllowClobber

For existing installations, you can first remove PowerCLI and then install PowerCLI again:

 Get-InstalledModule VMware.PowerCLI | Uninstall-Module -Force 
 Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser -Force -SkipPublisherCheck -AllowClobber

After the PowerCLI modules installation finishes you can run the following command to check what version is installed:

Get-InstalledModule VMware.PowerCLI | Select Name, Version

Certificate error

When trying to connect to the vCenter Server you’ve got the following error:

Invalid server certificate. Use Set-PowerCLIConfiguration to set the value for the InvalidCertificateAction option to Prompt if you’d like to connect once or to add a permanent exception for this server.

I had no trusted certificate installed. The following command ignores invalid certificates and suppresses the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program:

Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Confirm:$false -ParticipateInCeip $false

Now I was able to connect to vCenter Server with PowerCLI.